1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a picture processing system operable to execute picture processing commands and allow the description of a picture processing procedure using the picture processing commands, and particularly to a picture processing system capable of developing a picture processing procedure through the conversational operation with the operator for evaluating the result of picture processing on a trial-and-error basis.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Picture processing, in which the removal of noises from a displayed picture (i.e., smoothening) or the conversion of 8 bit monochrome display into binary monochrome display (i.e., fixed binarization) etc. is carried out, and the picture processing is carried out generally by executing a plurality of picture processing commands. When a picture processing procedure, i.e., a series of picture processing commands, is registered in the conventional picture processing system, the commands are registered directly in the command list memory provided as a picture processing command table, instead of being stored temporarily prior to the registration and use. There are two conventional methods for developing picture processing procedures using the above-mentioned system. In one method, when a user or operator inputs a picture processing command to the picture processing system, the system executes the command, and when the operator inputs a display command, the system executes the display command and displays the result on the screen. The operator views the display, and instructs the system to register the picture processing command when he considers that the command is preferable. In this method, the inputted command is cancelled, therefore, if the operator tries several picture processing commands and, in consequence of the trial, wishes to register one of them, he must make an operation to enter that command again.
Another method is to register all picture processing commands for describing a picture processing procedure in the command list memory and, thereafter, to execute the registered commands from the beginning to the end. This method does not allow the operator to check the result of each command execution, and therefore, in order to carry out an efficient development of picture processing, the operator is required to have a sufficient knowledge about the command execution result.
An article entitled "High-Speed Compact Image-Processing System, TOSPIX", Toshiba Review, Vol. 38, No. 6, 1983, pp. 488-492, discribes the ability of a high-speed hardware function for executing a conversational command including pixel manipulations, such as logical summation between pixels, and geometric manipulations of pictures, such as affine transformation, but it describes nothing about the development of picture processing procedures on a trial-and-error basis.
Another article entitled "Visual System Autovision II with Robot Language RAIL", Image Information Industrial, Vol. 15, No. 5, May 1983, pp. 31-42, discribes a man-machine interface of a picture processing system which processes picture information picked up with a camera and controls a robot on the basis of the result of the process, but it describes nothing about the development of picture processing procedures on a trial-and-error basis.